"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
Burglars.
It may sound like a corny joke but the punchline isn't so funny. Property crimes are on the rise in San Fernando Valley and it's because of the increase in "knock-knock" burglaries.
"Basically they go up to the front door and either knock on the door or the windows of the selected residence to determine if anybody is inside..." explained Detective Armando Monarrez, who oversees the LAPD's West Valley police department's burglary unit, "If they're confident that the residence is unoccupied they will scale sometimes the sidewalls or gates to access the rear yard and eventually break into the home by either smashing the windows or rear doors..."
Here are the four things you need to know about this type of crime.
1. Warning Signs
- Red flags:
"If you hear someone knocking at your door and you're obviously looking to see who's at the door and these people are wearing gloves or avoiding eye contact or facial contact with cameras. That's a red flag in itself."
- On a cell phone:
"If they're at your front door and on they're on a cell phone, they may be contacting or in communication with a group that's just waiting to burglarize the home."
- Missed calls:
"Pay attention to multiple calls into the location or on your cell phone. If you're getting all these missed calls, they may be checking to see if you're there, at the residence."
2. Make your presence known
"If you do happen to find that someone's at your front door, you want to make sure that your presence is known, but in a way that you're not trying to be confrontational. So, just simply asking, 'who's there?' or 'what's going on?' I mean that's a good way to approach it. Most of the time the people who made contact with these individuals, they spook them and they end up leaving the area because...they're trying to avoid the confrontation."
3. What to do if they get in your home
Call for help:
"We've actually had, quite a few cases...when the resident does come home and notices that the front door is unlocked or they notice that there's noise inside...You definitely do not want to go into the residence, you want to wait until the police arrive and clear your home...make your presence known...there's nothing wrong with saying:
'who's there? who's inside the house? I just called the police and they're on their way.' It's better to say that they're on their way then to tell them, 'I'm going to call the police,' because that kind of gives them the feeling that they still have time. But when you're telling them that you've already made the call and the police are on their way, it rushes them and it creates this sense of urgency that they need to get out of there as quickly as they can.
4. Under no circumstances should you engage
Don't be a hero:
"Give them an avenue to escape. You don't want to block their way, you don't want to confront them, you don't want to get into a fight with them, so make sure you try to keep a safe distance away from open windows or whatever the case may be..."
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.